Senior Director, Network Research and Development

The Role

As the Senior Director, Network Research & Development, you will lead a small, high-caliber team focused on shaping Lumen’s future network capabilities through disciplined experimentation, technology validation, and long-horizon innovation. This leader will serve as the single-threaded owner for Network R&D, driving a focused portfolio of emerging technology bets that inform future architecture, product, security, and network strategy.

This role is designed for a decisive, technically credible leader who can connect emerging technologies to practical business and network outcomes. The Senior Director will own the R&D charter, govern the portfolio, establish clear decision criteria, and ensure the team remains focused on learning, optionality, and future capability shaping—not near-term roadmap delivery or business-as-usual execution.

Location

This is a remote opportunity open to candidates located anywhere in the U.S.

The Main Responsibilities

• Lead the Network R&D function as the accountable owner for long-horizon experimentation, technology validation, and future capability development across emerging network technologies.
• Build and lead a lean core team of dedicated R&D talent, including principal-level engineers, architects, and program/portfolio discipline, while flexing capacity through internal SMEs, vendors, contractors, academic partners, and external specialists.
• Define and manage a clear R&D charter that distinguishes exploratory research and validation from production delivery, near-term roadmap execution, and business-as-usual architecture work.
• Develop and govern a portfolio of R&D initiatives across adjacent, emerging, and frontier horizons, ensuring each initiative has a clear hypothesis, learning milestone, kill criterion, and decision value.
• Prioritize investment areas such as quantum networking, post-quantum crypto-agility, next-generation optical and fiber technologies, autonomous networks, AI infrastructure, programmable networks, edge and distributed compute, and advanced security capabilities.
• Translate emerging technology trends into practical implications for Lumen’s network strategy, product roadmap, architecture decisions, and future-state operating model.
• Establish disciplined intake, review, and reporting mechanisms to evaluate R&D opportunities, track outcomes, and support quarterly governance discussions with senior leaders and investment stakeholders.
• Drive strong stop/continue decision-making by quickly ending low-value or non-viable initiatives and reallocating focus toward the highest-potential opportunities.
• Partner across Network Engineering, Architecture, Product, Security, Finance, Legal, Procurement, and external ecosystem partners to align R&D work with enterprise priorities and future customer needs.
• Protect the R&D team from being pulled into ongoing operational execution or near-term delivery work while maintaining strong connectivity to the teams that may eventually scale or operationalize validated capabilities.
• Build a culture of technical depth, curiosity, accountability, disciplined experimentation, transparency, and enterprise-minded decision-making.
• Interface with and influence enterprise technology strategy by advising executive leadership (EVPs, SVPs, VPs) on disruptive network trends, industry inflection points, and future-state architectures that may reshape Lumen's competitive position over the next 3–10 years.
• Secure alignment across Product, Technology, Security, Finance, and Operations leadership to prioritize and accelerate transformational network initiatives that create new revenue opportunities or materially improve operational economics.

What We Look For in a Candidate

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, telecommunications, applied science, or a related technical field; advanced degree preferred.
• 15+ years of experience in network engineering, network architecture, advanced technology strategy, R&D, product engineering, emerging technology incubation, or a related technical leadership function.
• 10+ years of experience leading technical teams, senior engineers, architects, or cross-functional innovation programs.
• Deep understanding of network architecture, optical and transport systems, IP networking, security, automation, AI-enabled infrastructure, cloud-native platforms, or other advanced network technologies.
• Demonstrated ability to evaluate emerging technologies and translate technical uncertainty into structured experiments, decision points, and business-relevant recommendations.
• Strong strategic thinking with the ability to connect long-horizon technology shifts to enterprise priorities, customer needs, financial impact, and future network differentiation.
• Strong cross-functional influence and executive communication skills, with the ability to engage senior leaders, technical experts, finance partners, vendors, and external research partners.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience leading R&D, innovation, advanced architecture, emerging technology, lab, or incubation teams within a telecommunications, cloud, infrastructure, security, or deep technology environment.
• Exposure to quantum technologies, post-quantum cryptography, QKD, advanced optical systems, next-generation fiber, photonics, AI infrastructure, autonomous networks, digital twins, or programmable network architectures.
• Experience structuring technology pilots, proof-of-concepts, vendor co-development efforts, academic collaborations, national lab engagements, standards participation, or startup partnerships.
• Strong understanding of intellectual property considerations, vendor partnership models, co-development terms, licensing approaches, or commercialization pathways for emerging technology work.
• Ability to represent the organization externally with credibility in technical forums, partner discussions, industry groups, and innovation ecosystems.

Compensation